Literature

अफ़रोज़ आलम साहिल, TwoCircles.net किशनगंज : बिहार के किशनगंज में चल रहे पहला ‘सीमांचल इंटरनेशनल लिटरेरी फेस्टिवल’ आज इस उम्मीद और अपने कई यादगार निशानियों...

By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS, New Delhi : Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who won the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction in 2007 for her book "Half of a Yellow Sun", paints snapshots of the roller-coaster called America in her new book, "The Thing Around Your Neck". The collection of 12 short stories has been published by HarperCollins.

By IANS, Aligarh : Abdul Sabur Kidwai is just 11 years old, and he has already authored a 32-page book on how three boys foil a bank robbery. And he aspires to be a "great author" one day. A student of Class 6 at Al-Barkaat Public School here, Kidwai's work of fiction has already hit the market, courtesy New Delhi's Sanbun Publishers.

By TCN News, Aligarh: The Women’s College, Aligarh Muslim University, is organising a two-day seminar to celebrate the works and life of Urdu literary giant...

Name of Book: Muslim Societies: Rise and Fall Name of Author: Dr. M.I.H. Farooqi

By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS, New Delhi : Legendary filmmaker Guru Dutt and his scriptwriter Abrar Alvi were two great creative minds and opposite personalities that sparked off great ideas and motivated each other to give their best, says veteran journalist Sathya Saran who has authored a book on the late actor.

By IRNA, Rome : The book titled ‘Islam and Freedom’ written by Mohammad Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, noted Iranian religious scholar, was published in Rome by the Imam Mahdi (AS) Association. Announcing this, Iran’s cultural attaché in Rome, Ali Reza Esmaeili told IRNA on Tuesday that the book was translated into the Italian language and printed in 1,000 copies. The cover price for the 96-page book is ten euros.

Book: Nation-State and Minority Rights in India: Comparative Perspectives on Muslim and Sikh Identities Author: Tanweer Fazal Routledge, 2014,pp. 256, price not stated. By Shefali Jha,...

Reviewed by M Naushad Ansari, Book: End of Casteism Author: T.M. Mani (Now T.M. Umar Farooq) Translation from Tamil: M. Ghulam Muhammad Pages: 140 Price: Rs. 50.00

What prompted Malala Yousafzai to speak up against the Taliban? How does love sear and consume and how can one heal with homeopathy? How can a few things better your life? It is these intriguing stories that IANS has for its readers this weekend. Take a look. 1. Book: Malala; Author: Malala Yousafzai with Patricia McCormick; Publisher: Hachette; Pages: 240; Price: Rs. 299

आह सय्यद हसन! (अपने उस्ताद मुहतरम जनाब सय्यद हसन साहब, को मनज़ूम खिराज-ए-अक़ीदत) By नदीम ज़फर जिलानी हर शख़्स सोगवार है, हर आँख अश्कबार, ग़ुंचे, लिपट के फूलों...

Name of the Book: Issues in Madrasa Education in India Author: Yoginder Sikand Publisher: Hope India, Gurgaon ([email protected]) Pages: 112 Year: 2008 ISBN: 8178711532 Price: Rs. 295 Reviewed by: Nasir Khan

By Yoginder Sikand, TwoCircles.net, Name of the Book: A Necessary Engagement—Reinventing America’s Relations With the Muslim World Author: Emile A. Nakhleh Publisher: Princeton University Press, Princeton & Oxford Year: 2009 Pages: 162 Price: ISBN: 978-0-691-13525-0 Reviewed by: Yoginder Sikand

By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS, New Delhi : After matriarchy and patriarchy, the world is gradually moving towards an age of light or 'lumenarchy', says noted Polish philosopher and Indophile Henryk Skolimowski, who considers himself "more Indian", in his new book "Let There Be Light: The Mysterious Journey of Cosmic Creativity".

By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS, New Delhi : The characters and setting may be different, but his latest "Sea of Poppies" like his other works also focuses on migration, which is the reality of "the Asian times", says India's bestselling contemporary author Amitav Ghosh. "Sea of Poppies", which was launched Monday and hit bookstores across India in the first week of the month, is the first of a trilogy set just before the Opium wars. It is about an old slaving ship, the Ibis, which sails across the Indian Ocean with its motley crew of sailors, stowaways, coolies and convicts.

By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS,

By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter, Mumbai: Indian Urdu language enthusiasts have been asked to remember 15th anniversary of 'International Mother Language Day' in favour of ‘Urdu’ language by organizing programmes, seminars and debates.

By TCN News Aligarh: The University Debating and Literary Club, in association with University Drama Club, University Fusion Music Club, University Western Music Club and...

By IANS,

By Shahnawaz Akhtar, IANS,

By IANS, Bangalore : Babu Hirannaiah is set to publish his father veteran stage artiste Master Hirannaiah's plays that revolutionalised Kannada theatre, in the form of an anthology. He is doing it to clear misconception about him and to keep his work alive in future. Babu, a well-known name in television and theatre world, also plans to publish all the plays written by his grandfather, comedian Hirannaiah, who wrote the hit play "Devadasi", staged countless number of times in the past six decades.

Mumbai : Veteran Urdu journalist and social worker Ansari Aejaz Ahmed has been given the prestigious Maharashtra Urdu Sahitya Academy Award for excellence in...

New Delhi: Over 400 Indian artistes on Tuesday condemned the attacks on writers in India and expressed concern over the alarming rise in intolerance...

By IANS, Mumbai: Senior Gujarati journalist Hiren Mehta Saturday bagged the Lalit Essay Award 2008 of the Maharashtra Rajya Gujarati Sahitya Akademi, an official said. Akademi president Hemraj Shah said that Mehta, a senior editor with the leading Gujarati magazine Chitralekha, has bagged the prestigious award for his book "Ajab Duniya Andaman-ni." It is an eye-opener account of the several weeks the Mumbai-based Mehta spent in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in 2007, and compiled in a book form last year, Shah said.

By Shweta Srinivasan, IANS, New Delhi : The fate of Mahatma Gandhi's original literary works remains undecided following the expiry of the copyright restrictions on them on the first day of this year, leaving scholars and admirers of his philosophy across the country anxious.

Book: Who Killed Karkare? The Real Face of Terrorism in India Author: SM Mushrif Price: Rs 300/ USD 25 Pages: 319 Publisher: Pharos Media (www.pharosmedia.com), New Delhi By M Zeyaul Haque, A new book curiously titled Who Killed Karkare? says a nationwide network of Hindutva terror that has its tentacles spread up to Nepal and Israel is out to destroy the India most Indians have known for ages and to remould it into some kind of Afghanistan under the Taliban.

Agartala : An Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) would be set up in Tripura to encourage the youth to study job-oriented courses within...

By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS, New Delhi : Millions of vernacular and English language readers across India are cashing in on the boom in translations to access foreign literature. The spotlight this year is on all genres of European literature, especially from France and Britain. The French embassy and the British Council have taken the lead in bringing literary works from the West to India and promote translations of Indian works abroad in collaboration with the exploding tribe of indigenous publishers.

By TwoCircles.net news desk, Patna: On the eve of 190th birth anniversary of its founder Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Aligarh Muslim University organized All India Essay Writing Competition on his life. According to the results announced by AMU administration, Mr. Tahir Ashraf Siddiqui of National Law Institute, Jodhpur in Rajasthan has won first prize while Jyotsana Gautam of Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla and Bharat Bhatti of Delhi University got the second and third prizes respectively.

By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS, Book: "The March Of The Aryans; Author: Bhagwan S. Gidwani; Publisher: Penguin India; Pages: 680 pages; Price: Rs.599

By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS, New Delhi : Delhi-based theatre personality Bubbles Sabharwal's debut novel "Tomorrow's Promise", a complex psychological canvas of a triangular relationship, is the outcome of a personal tragedy. She wrote the manuscript sitting in a Delhi hospital where her father was being treated. The novel narrates the story of Shirin Bhatia, a quiet and docile housewife, whose orderly existence turns topsy-turvy when her husband Kabir introduces her to his colleague Udayn Batra.

By Vishal Gulati, IANS, Shimla : Curiosity equals book sales. That equation seems to be at work here with copies of Jaswant Singh's "Jinnah: India - Partition - Independence" flying off shelves as people dig into their pockets to find out why the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader expelled its veteran leader. The queues started soon after the party president Rajnath Singh, who is here with top leaders of the party for a three-day introspection session, announced the expulsion Wednesday morning.

By IANS, New Delhi : Amish Tripathi's "The Immortals of Meluha" continues to retain the number one position in the fiction category while "Before Memory Fades" by Fali S. Nariman tops the non-fiction section in the bestseller list this week. The top 10 bestsellers in each category are: Fiction 1. "The Immortals Of Meluha" Author: Amish Tripathi Publisher: Tara Press Price: Rs.295.00 2. "And Thereby Hangs A Tale" Author: Jeffrey Archer Publisher: Pan Books Price: Rs.249.00 3. "The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest" Author: Stieg Larsson

By Sahana Ghosh , IANS,

By Tarique Anwar and Md. Ali, TwoCircles.net, Patna: The book "Celebrating India: Reflections on Eminent Indian Muslims 1857-2007" by Meher Fatima Husain of Centre for Dalit and Minorities Studies at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi was released by Justice Syed Shah Nayyar Husain, Hon'ble Judge of Patna High Court in a ceremony organized by the Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library on December 7, 2008.

Dhaka : A two-day nationwide shutdown called by the Jamaat-e-Islami began on Sunday in Bangladesh against a Supreme Court verdict upholding the death penalty...

By IANS, London : While renowned US author John Updike waits for the Nobel Prize, here comes the literary world's most notorious honour - the lifetime achievement award for Bad Sex in Fiction. The annual awards, given away by the British journal Literary Review, were announced here Tuesday night. Many British newspapers were expecting former prime minister Tony Blair's former spokesman and Labour's spin doctor Alastair Campbell to take this year's Bad Sex in Fiction award, but the honour went to Rachel Johnson, who happens to be the sister of Tory mayor Boris Johnson.

New Delhi : An American university has started doctoral grants for Indian students to honour late former president of India A.P.J. Abdul Kalam who...

By Masood Raja Khan, Nyla Ali. The Life of a Kashmiri Woman: Dialectic of Resistance and Accommodation. New York: Palgrave Pivot. Many of us in the...

By Ashish Mehta, IANS, New Delhi : Bookies are betting heavily on Israeli author Amos Oz to win the coveted Nobel Prize in Literature to be announced Thursday, though odds are accepted for a long list of authors including India's Mahasweta Devi. Blogs and literary groups discussing the prize agree that it is not quite predictable, but the benchmark for discussion is set by the British bookies, Ladbrokes, which has been accepting bets on the prize winner for a while.

By IANS, New Delhi : Indian journalist M.J. Akbar's "Tinderbox: The Past and Future of Pakistan" leads the non-fiction section of the bestseller list this week while

Kolkata: Bengali poet Mandakranta Sen, who recently returned her Sahitya Akademi award, on Monday said the Akademi has written to her requesting she take...

By IANS, New Delhi : Leading physicist and international best-selling author Mani Bhaumik will unveil his first children's book “The Cosmic Detective” in Kolkata Wednesday. Billed as one of the biggest children's titles by Penguin in 2009, which has been designated as the International Year of Astronomy, the book will be launched by West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. According to a communiqué issued by Penguin India here, the author's first book "Code Name God" tried to explain spirituality through science.

By IANS, Ahmedabad : Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's book "Jyotipunj", a collection of articles on Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leaders, is now available in Marathi. The edition, translated from Gujarati by Ravindra Dani, was released in Pune Monday, a release here said. "When we define or discuss secularism, it is only with the feeling that India as a nation comes first and foremost that could truly define the principles of secularism," Modi said at the book release ceremony. "Jyotipunj" narrates the story of lives of 16 RSS leaders and what Modi learnt from them.

By IANS, Book: \"Travancore: The Footprints of Destiny\" - Autobiography: Uthradom Tirunal Marthanda Varma, the former king (as told to Uma Maheswari); Publisher: Konark Publishers; Price: Rs.2,000 By Madhusree Chatterjee, New Delhi : In 1924, when Mahatma Gandhi asked young Chithira Tirunal, the 12-year-old prince of the erstwhile princely state of Travancore in Kerala, if he would remove untouchability and throw open the temples to all castes when he became king, the boy answered, "Of course". And he lived up to his word.

Agartala : The Tripura government will introduce yoga as a subject in schools from classes one to eight from the next academic year beginning...

By IANS, New Delhi : Arundhati Roy's "Listening to Grass Hoppers: Field Notes on Democracy" topped the non-fiction category among best-selling books here this week, while Ali Sethi's "The Wish Maker: A Novel" was number one in the fiction category. The top ten in each section: Non-Fiction 1. "Listening To Grass Hoppers: Field Notes on Democracy" Author: Arundhati Roy Publisher: Penguin Books Price: Rs.499 2. "Prisoner of the State: The Secret Journal of Chinese Premier" Author: Zhao Ziyang Publisher: Simon & Schuster Price: Rs. 1,022

By K.C. Saleem,

By Dr kouser Fathima, The release of data about Indian population based on religion has shattered many preconceived notions. The fear among the majority...

(Courtesy: indianexpress) By नदीम ज़फ़र, TwoCircles.net “अख़लाक़" मर गया हिंदुस्तान का ! पड़ोसी का हक़? छोड़िये, लेकिन, ज़िंदा रहने का हक़ तो दिया हुआ था, संविधान का I सब को गाये...

New Delhi : Joining the league of writers returning their Sahitya Akademi awards in the last few days, popular Malayalam writer Sarah Joseph...

Aligarh : Urdu has played a vital role during India's freedom struggle and became instrumental in uniting Indian society "but still Urdu has failed...

By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS,

By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS, New Delhi : A storyteller and a begum swap tales and match their narrative wits in writer-journalist Omair Ahmad's new book "The Storyteller's Tale" - giving a glimpse of 18th century Delhi after Afghan warlord Ahmad Shah Abdali's army plundered it.

By RINA, Dhampur: In this city of the northern state of India every year in the month of April an annual agricultural festival called Nezah is organized. It is considered as one of the biggest festivals of its kind in the area. Although in other cities of Uttar Pradesh like Sambhal, Meerut the annual Nezah festival is also held but the Dhampur’s Nezah is unique in many senses. One of the major attractions of this Nezah is the book stall by Jamat-e-Islami Hind which attracts not only Muslims but also a large number of non-Muslims show their interests in Islamic literature.

Mumbai : Celebrated author Chetan Bagat says his next book is quite challenging, as it is a love story of a rural boy and...

By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net New Delhi: Mir Laeq Ali Khan, Salar Jung II and Prime Minister of Nizam of Hyderabad, was among the very few Indians who traveled to Europe to observe the continent’s society, polity and economy and then wrote travelogue, said Dr Omar Khalidi of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, who co-edited the book “Vaqa-e-Musafirat-i-Imad al-Saltanah: The Travelogue of Salar Jung II”, launched by Hamid Ansari, Vice President of India in New Delhi on December 18.

भारत… यहां तो हर दिन होली है! आतंकी खेलते हैं बेगुनाहों के खून से और ‘देशभक्त’ व ‘दंगाई’ अपनों का ही लाल रंग बेरंग पानी में बहा देते...

By Preetha Nair New Delhi : Mughal rulers patronised Sanskrit literature in their courts, especially between AD 1560 to 1660, and also took up Persian...

By Akanki Sharma New Delhi : In today's digital era where technology has almost swamped art in all its forms, has Urdu literature once famous...

By Shubha Singh, IANS, Book: "River of Smoke"; By Amitav Ghosh, Publisher: Penguin Books, Price: Rs.699, Pages: 558

By IANS,

By Ram Puniyani, Muslims in Indian Cities: Trajectories of Marginalisation - Edited by Laurent Gayer and Chritophe Jaffrelot, Harper Collins, Delhi 2012, Pages: 403, Price Rs 499

By IANS, New Delhi : A woman leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has alleged that she was assaulted by a gang of drunk men in a posh locality of south Delhi late Thursday.

By M.R. Narayan Swamy, Title: The Night it Rained Guns: Unravelling the Purulia Arms Drop Conspiracy; Author: Chandan Nandy; Publisher: Rupa; Pages: 272; Price: Rs.295 On December 17, 1995, an ageing Russian AN 26 transport plane took off from Karachi ostensibly for Dhaka. After refuelling at Varanasi, it made a course diversion over Gaya, Bihar. When it was over Purulia in West Bengal, the plane flew dangerously low and dropped, amid darkness, four tonnes of deadly arms and ammunition, for the Ananda Marg, a semi-secret cult. It was, as author Chandan Nandy rightly points out, "one of the most bizarre and, admittedly, a spectacular operation to breach India's security".

A book analyses the drivers of change and the repercussions of present-day gender revolutions, a man in today's Kolkata meets a man who claims to be a werewolf. Some light and some heavy dosage, the IANS bookshelf this weekend has reality meeting fantasy. Take a look. 1. Book: Half A Billion Rising; Author: Anirudha Dutta; Publisher: Rainlight; Pages: 247; Price: Rs.395

By IANS, New Delhi : Fourteen years ago, Anasuya Sengupta, a student of Lady Shri Ram college, had recited a poem written by her before the then US first lady Hillary Clinton when she came to India on her first official visit. Clinton was so impressed that a chapter in her 2003 autobiography "Living History" was inspired by the poem. The chapter is called "Silence is Not Spoken Here". On Monday, Anasuya -- now an activist for women's rights -- was present at Delhi University's Convention Hall, where Clinton came visiting as US Secretary of State.

By IANS, (IANS Books This Week) New Delhi : Mythlogy to leadership, the weekend bookshelf offers variety and adventure.

डॉ. नदीम ज़फर जिलानी हर माह-ए-रमज़ान के वक़्त एक बहस सोशल मीडिया पर ज़रूर उभरती है, इसे रमज़ान कहें या रमदान. इंग्लैण्ड में रहने वाले...

Kolkata : Bengali poet Mandakranta Sen, who recently gave up her Sahitya Akademi award, on Friday refused to take it back, saying though...

By IANS, Dhaka : Bengali literature has bright future, with growing readership in both Bangladesh, India and wherever the Bengali-speaking diaspora resides, India's best known Bengali poet and litterateur Sunil Gangopadhyay said. He visited Madaripur, his birth place in Bangladesh's Faridpur district, to open a three-day "Sunil Mela", a literary fair that ended Sunday, to celebrate his 75th birthday, BSS news agency reported. Sunil Literature Practice and Research Centre organised the fair in his ancestral home at Purba Maijpara village under Kalkini Upazila (sub-district).

By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS, Book: "Land of Two Rivers: A History of Bengal from the Mahabharata to Mujib"; Author: Nitish Sengupta; Publisher: Penguin India; Price: Rs.650; Pages: 639

By Vikas Datta Some of the Second World War's fiercest battles involved bridges and inspired some riveting accounts - capture of key bridges (Cornelius...

By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS, New Delhi : The government is planning to set up an international award for agricultural innovation in the memory of the founder-member of the Ghadar Party, Pandurang Khankhoje, a revolutionary-turned-farmer from Maharashtra, former union minister Vasant Sathe said. Khankhoje also helped Mexico, his adopted country, set up 30 agricultural universities.

By IANS, New Delhi : Nobel Prize winning writer Orhan Pamuk's "The Museum of Innocence" tops the fiction list this week while Meghnad Desai's "The Rediscovery of India" leads the books in the non-fiction bestsellers. Here are the top 10 in the non-fiction and fiction categories: Non-Fiction 1. "The Rediscovery of India" Author: Meghnad Desai Publisher: Penguin Allen Lane Price: Rs.699.00 2. "The Difficulty of Being Good: On The Subtle art of Dharma" Author: Gurcharan Das Publisher: Penguin Allen Lane Price: Rs.699.00

New Delhi : Indira Gandhi knew her life was at risk when she decided to go for militarily storm the Golden Temple, President Pranab...

By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS, New Delhi : The ever-growing popularity of Indo-Anglian writing and the publishing boom in India have opened the floodgates for English writers from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh as well. Authors from neighbouring countries are increasingly publishing their books in India, which offers them a sizeable audience still hooked to the written word. They have inched their way up the Indian best-seller lists with powerful books that combine gripping narratives, snapshots of socio-political realities, history and commentaries.

By IANS, New Delhi: The absence of organised translation activity in literature and academia has led to cultural and intellectual distancing in Indian society, believes eminent historian Mushirul Hasan. "This distancing has led to greater regionalisation and in some cases appropriation of languages. The unity in diversity is lost - and on a personal note, it has led to a gulf between my students and me," Hasan, a former Jamia Millia Islamia University vice-chancellor, said Saturday.

डॉक्टर नदीम ज़फर जिलानी, मेनचेस्टर, इंग्लैंड तंग-दिल लोग हैं ज़मीं पे बहुत चल सु-ए-आसमाँ करें हिजरत! कब समुन्दर उबूर कर पाती नाऊ काग़ज़ की हो गई...

By Vikas Datta Jaipur: The western intervention in Afghanistan was flawed from the very start in its rationale, goals and implementation, which accounts for why...

By Asghar Ali Engineer

Mumbai : The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has signed an agreement with the Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi, to launch two new streams --...

Shimla : Himachal Pradesh has emerged as role model in the field of education since the literacy rate there has reached 88 per cent...

By Mauli Buch, IANS, Book: "Go Fly High"; Author: Sandesh Mestry, Chandrashekhar Bhat and Om Dhumatkar; Publisher: MBMC Consulting Ltd; Price: Rs.499. A piece of light fiction, this book relates the experiences of perhaps every small entrepreneur -- fire-fighting, managing delayed orders, resource crunch and simply never having time for the family. It tells the journey of one such businessman who discovers the mantras of success by simply flying a kite.

By Vikas Datta, War or military fiction has been an integral part of literature across cultures - be the epics of Homer or Virgil, or closer to home, the great fratricidal war in the Mahabharata, or earlier, the tantalising reference to the Battle of the Ten Kings in the Rig Veda.

Enjoy a dose of light fiction to beat summer heat. From heartaches to thrillers and from graphic travelogue to Vipassana journey - take your pick from this vibrant assortment of books IANS has on offer this weekend. 1. Book: Never Kiss Your Best Friend; Author: Sumrit Shahi; Publisher: Rupa; Pages: 206; Price: Rs.195

By Mohammad Anas, Fresh year is ahead but I am petrified of lies, Like result of last year's devastation upon my eyes. Poisonous hooch in India...

By Sujit Chakraborty Agartala/Guwahati : The government will bring in foreign faculty to improve the quality of higher education in the northeastern region, union Minister...

By IANS, New Delhi : Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid's "Descent Into Chaos" rules the non-fiction list this week while the Booker Prize shortlisted "The White Tiger" by debutant Aravind Adiga is a hit with fiction readers. The top 10 in the non-fiction and fiction lists are: Non- Fiction 1. "Descent Into Chaos" Author : Ahmed Rashid Publisher : Allen Lane Price : Rs.495.00 2. "Aids Sutra: Untold Stories from India" Author : Various Publisher : Random House Price : Rs.395.00 3. "The Secret" Author : Rhonda Byrne Publisher : Simon & Schuster Price : Rs.550.00

By IANS, New Delhi : The London Book Fair, which is focussing on India as an emerging market and literary hub this year, will take a look at not only English writing from the south Asian nation but also other vernacular languages, said Alistair Burtenshaw, group exhibition director of the event. The April 20-22 fair will also introduce new Indian writers to publishers and sellers from 67 countries, said Burtenshaw, who was here Thursday to promote the event.

By Azera Rahman, IANS, Book: "Laburnum - For My Head"; Author: Temsula Ao; Publisher: Penguin Books-India; Price: Rs.150 New Delhi, April 13 (IANS) Gripping, not in the sense of a thriller novel, but one in which the reader feels compelled to go on as events unfold in each of the tales. Temsula Ao's collection of short stories, "Laburnum- For My Head" is a sensitively written book, which draws inspiration from the vibrant and troubled region of northeast India.

By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS,

Agra : Though Mirza Ghalib's contribution to 'Urdu Adab' is considered as significant as Shakespeare's to English, the mansion in Agra where he was...

Ram Puniyani Book Review Book Under review Islam-Misgivings and History, Asghar Ali Engineer, Vitasta, New Delhi 2008, Pages, 228, Rs 295

By Mayabhushan Nagvenkar, IANS, Panaji : Portraying Israeli tourists as a bunch of promiscuous, stingy, drug addicts and peddlers, a new book published by a church-affiliated organisation in Goa is likely to ruffle many feathers. The 96-page work, "Claiming the right to say no: a study of Israeli tourist behaviour and patterns in Goa", has been authored by 11 seminarians or priests-in-grooming. It has been published by the Council for Social Justice and Peace (CSJP), an arm of the Roman Catholic church in the state.

By IANS,

Kolkata: Actress Vidya Balan, who was longing for a selfie with veteran actresses Sharmila Tagore, Jaya Bachchan and Moushumi Chatterjee, finally got her wish...

By Yoginder Sikand,

By IANS,

By IANS, New Delhi : The bookcase this week is a finely-nuanced spread of poetry, narrative, drama and business.

By Prof. Akhtarul Wasey for Twocircles.net Islam seems to have become a soft target for the Indian and global media and political leaders, as well....

By IRNA, Tehran : The closing ceremony of the ongoing Third Fajr International Poetry Festival will be held here on February 28 with the participation of 13 poets from nine countries. At the event, poets from Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, India, Pakistan, Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq and Egypt will be honored for introducing Persian poetry to the world. In line with strengthening the international section of the Third Fajr Poetry Festival, a seminar titled 'Poets of Iran and World' will be held in summer.

By Yoginder Sikand, Book Review Name of the Book: The Madrassah Challenge—Militancy and Religious Education in Pakistan Author: C. Christine Fair Publisher: United States Institute of Peace Press, Washington DC Year: 2008 Pages: 143 Reviewed by: Yoginder Sikand

By IANS,

New Delhi : President Pranab Mukherjee will present the 'Hindi Sevi Samman' for 2012, 2013 and 2014 on Thursday at a function to be...

London: An Indian-origin Muslim cleric has been awarded an honorary doctorate by University of Leicester in Britain in recognition of his commendable work for...

New Delhi : Jawaharlal Nehru University and Hyderabad Central University, which recently faced controversies, have figured in top four rankings released by the union...

Birmingham : A delegation from 13 Indian universities got an exposure to the United Kingdom's own version of what can be called "Chai pe...

By TCN News, New Delhi: A book entitled, “Government of British India on Allama Mashraqi and Khaksar Tehreek (Movement): A Select Chronology” has been published and released in the USA. This work of 544 pages is a major contribution toward the historiography of the independence movement and the emergence of two sovereign states — Pakistan and India— in 1947.

By Ram Puniyani The issues related to our educational institutions-patriotism started coming up to the fore with this Government coming to power (May 2014). One...

By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS, Book: "Newsroom Live"; Author: Prabhat Shunglu; Published by: Om Books International; Pages: 310; Price:Rs.195

By Ram Puniyani, Beginning with September 2015 we witnessed a flood of ‘returning’ honors by writers, scientists and artists. There are also various statements...

By IANS, New Delhi : “If we practise looking deeply, we will see that our notion of happiness may be responsible for our suffering. That is why Buddha advises us to look again deeply into the nature of our desires. We suffer because of them,” says Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, Nobel prize nominee and peace-maker, in his new book “Under the Banyan Tree: Overcoming Fear and Sorrow”. The insightful book, divided into 10 chapters, transcribes his visit to India in 1996, shows the way to be free, happy and to live in the present.

By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS, New Delhi : Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's female characters are not just Western stereotypes. They transcend boundaries to symbolise the dilemmas and emancipation of contemporary women who could well belong to India. And this was evident at the 10-day Delhi Ibsen Festival, which ended Dec 20 with plays and workshops interpreting the celebrated 19th century writer in the South Asian context.

By NNN-PTI, New Delhi : Be it recognitions at the global level, controversies, visits by high-profile writers, publishers rolling out bestsellers and several new authors spinning stories, Indian literature in 2008 saw them all! Aravind Adiga brought cheers to the nation when his novel "The White Tiger," an ironic take on the new India with its techno-brilliance and IT prowess, bagged the Man Booker Prize beating the likes of Salman Rushdie ("The Enchantress of Florence") and Amitav Ghosh ("Sea of Poppies") among others.

By IANS, New Delhi : Kerala is many things to many people. While it is "god's own country" for some because of its scenic lushness, others think it an "embarrassment that encourages constant disorder in its politics and economy". As author Shinie Antony writes in a new anthology, "Kerala, Kerala, Quite Contrary" there exist multiple Keralas, all volubly at loggerheads with each other - left or right? Tourism brochures or environmental quicksand? Poised for a global role or rambling rhetoric?

By Shobit Arya, IANS,

A poem for the anniversary of Gujarat genocide of 2002. By Asma Anjum, Dark clouds gather Choking smoke fumes We run for cover as they howl He is coming, he is coming.

By TCN News, Mumbai: A tribute book on Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer, “Striving for Peace & Harmony” has been published by Bhashya Prakashan edited by...